I grabbed a quick soak at the Apple Pool this morning - always a lovely way to start the day!  The sun was just peeking up over the mountain, so the colors are quite washed out.  But it looks like we may actually get a couple of sunflowers!

Some bumper sticker smiles from the parking lot:

We didn't head to town quite as early as planned, because Chris and Cat from Oklahoma stopped by the house.  I like her shirt - 

On the side of the dirt road on our way out to the highway we once again spotted the burrowing owls.  No one was on the post, so it was a little harder.

Once we spotted an adult on the ground, we found two of the kiddos.

We enjoyed seeing the pronghorns out and about, which is a common sight - though today there were LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of them!   The babies were so cute - and ran as fast as the adults.

Surprisingly I also spotted a small herd of elk in the distance, maybe about a dozen, which Terry says is quite unusual for this time of year down in the valley.  No picture, though - they were seemingly rattled by the car so we kept moving down the dirt road.

We had a productive day in town, getting numerous errands done.  I'm happy to report that Maggie's bib is now in the mail, and should arrive in plenty of time for her upcoming birthday.  

I picked up a few items at our Walmart stop, including these goggles (just in case I get motivated to swim more laps....?)  They were all out of adult sizes, but these seem like they will work.  I'm not that thrilled about the shark motif <g> but decided that was better than the pink ones with  huge eyelashes attached!

And I'm sure everyone will be relieved <g> to hear that Terry bought a fourth 4-cup hummingbird feeder... AND another 25-lb bag of sugar.  (Once home she filled and hung the feeder as soon as we had unpacked the groceries, and it only took a matter of seconds to start attracting business.)

We lunched at Sweeties, which was as good as I remembered it.  Before we left I headed to the (single) bathroom, which Terry had 'warned' me was funky.  Still it had all the basics, and served its purpose.  I did, however, feel the need to take a pic of the sign outside the door:

And as we were leaving Sweeties, this man (Jeff) was walking in.  He obliged my request for a photo, which I "somehow" figured would give Alex a chuckle.  

Sure enough, after I sent off the pic Alex texted me back "I hate doing laundry",  

which of course is exactly why the shirt reminded me of him.

This trip I did have cellphone reception, so I had a chance to chat with Mom (and hear how much Suzanne loved the pix I took when we visited back in May) and Tom (and get an update on the pool, which still is not happy) and text with Alex (it turns out the guys got set up for the Wisconsin Country Thunder event yesterday and had today off, so they were off enjoying the day at some lake.)

Despite a second trip to Walmart (after our "final" stop, at the grocery store) <g> we were able to swing by Elinor & Richard's and catch Loretta still there.  Ivy was asleep, and looking like an angel - though from the conversation I gather that saying "she's a handful" is quite the understatement...

And here's the t-shirt quilt on the guest bed, all ready for Hilda's arrival in a few days.

There may be more news, but time to get some other stuff done.